‘Duty’ is a term that is used in several areas of the law—notably the ‘duty of care’ and ‘fiduciary duty’. This article considers the introduction of the term ‘duty’ itself to the law, before it became part of the compound terms. In order to do so, the article surveys a range of sub-disciplines, including trusts, negligence law, defamation and employment law, to identify the earliest uses of the term. To explore the potential motivations for its incorporation, additional material, such as early modern legal and, later, political treatises, is considered. The conclusion is that the introduction of the term, while reactionary, may still be seen in terms of the development of the legal subject in the English common law

中文翻译：

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英国法中义务的引入与法律主体的发展

“责任”是一个用于多个法律领域的术语——特别是“注意责任”和“信托责任”。本文考虑在“义务”一词成为复合词的一部分之前将其引入法律。为此，本文调查了一系列子学科，包括信托、疏忽法、诽谤和雇佣法，以确定该术语的最早用法。为了探索其纳入的潜在动机，我们考虑了其他材料，例如早期现代法律和后来的政治论文。结论是该术语的引入虽然是反动的，但仍可以从英国普通法中法律主体的发展来看